HAMPSHIRE head teacher Sally Rouse was keen to make eight-year-old Nikita feel at home when he arrived at her school from the former Soviet state of Belarus - so she's learning Russian to be able to speak to her new pupil.

Now Sally is going to a weekly evening class to help her master the language so she can converse with little Nikita at Titchfield Primary School.

She explained: "Nikita has no choice but to learn a new language - it's hard for him so I thought it might help if he knew I was learning too.

"He will know that I'm struggling when he is struggling - we will be learning together."

Nikita has come to live in the Hampshire village with his mother Olga, 37, a trained surgeon, following her marriage to Chris Rider, broadcast media-relations manager at West Sussex County Council.

Sally added: "Nikita has fitted in absolutely beautifully - he is a very popular boy.

"Often when any child starts school they might not speak out for two to three months.

"But Nikita never stops jabbering away in Russian. He may not be able to speak English at the moment but he isn't letting that stop him.

"He doesn't feel inhibited at all - he is very confident."

Nikita is a bright child and he is expected to make fast progress despite the language barrier.

"By the end of the year we expect him to be achieving only slightly below what any other child of his age would be achieving," she said.

To read more about Nikita and his mother's new life see the Life section in today's Daily Echo.